People / My Bristol Favourites
My Bristol Favourites: Rich Osborn
Rich Osborn is the founder and director of online food store Fresh Range, which aims to provide a local, sustainable and convenient alternative to the supermarkets for Bristol and Bath. It allows customers to choose from hundreds of local food producers, and delivers to all BS postcodes. Born and raised near Cheltenham Road, Rich went on to become a commercial director with Procter & Gamble before returning to Bristol with his young family to start the business.
Here are Rich’s top-five Bristol favourites:
Source
is needed now More than ever
“Long before we ever did, Joe Wheatcroft was sourcing the finest local ingredients from local food and drink producers for the great Bristol public at Source. Nowadays he’s the only place in the city that runs a fishmongers, butchery and patisserie along with a cafe/restaurant all in one iconic building at St Nick’s Market. I greatly admire what he’s doing there.”
Ashton Court and its steam trains
“Ashton Court is a beautiful place to visit at any time, but at bank holidays, the miniature steam trains are a great family trip out. I’ve been going there for 40 years (on and off!) and the price of a ride is still really low. The next opportunity to do it is at Easter.”
The Old Duke
“I fondly remember Oz, my late father, taking me on nights out in the 80s to, the then, smoky pubs like the Bear in Hotwells for some be-bop jazz. I now do the same with my sons at The Old Duke on King Street and try to coerce them into enjoying jazz as much as me. Look out for the Bristol International Jazz & Blues Festival in March.”
Riverstation
“Riverstation is my top restaurant in Bristol in terms of value for money when you take the whole experience and food quality into account, especially as kids eat free there lots of the time. It has beautiful views, good friendly service and talented chefs cooking well-sourced fresh ingredients.”
Outstanding locally produced food and drink
“As a nation, we still spend near on 90 per cent of our food budgets in supermarkets rather than with the farmers, fishermen, makers and bakers in and around where we live. In Bristol we are so lucky to be surrounded by the vast majority of the organic growing land in the country and hundreds of brilliant producers to choose from: amazing fresh food from places like The Severn Project in Whitchurch, Leigh Court and Farrington’s Farm, top local chefs making ready meals in their kitchens (like Bini Ludlow), beer from Wiper & True of St Werburgh’s, and Hobbs House Bakery in Chipping Sodbury. It’s an honour to work with these and so many other dedicated local producers.”